Lagomorpha Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Strange problem, I'm not sure what is going on. ^___^ my Dad is puzzled to when I called him. He knows cars, but no one in the family has ever had a suburu so its been interesting these past 8 years. Oh Suburu Loyale, 1990 Anyways my Amp gage keeps dropping to zero. Now I would think that would be maybe I got a bad alternator (replaced less then 2 years ago) or battery was acting up (again, not that long ago) but there is full power. I checked, turned on the fan to full, windshield wipers to high...full power. Even if its reading zero. I'm still going to have the Alternator checked on Monday, but I know what happened when THAT failed and its not doing that. I start it, it seems normal. I drive around go where I need to do, come out and start the car, it starts fine, sounds fine, but the amp gage does not rise when I start it and sometimes lights come on. Once the engine light, but it went off right away. Today I think another came on, but I could not read what it was, the one nearest to the drives side door. ^^' It may just be a case of the gauge breaking (can they do that?), but I want to figure out if I can find out if that IS it. or if its something thats going to cause me trouble down the road. So if anyone has any info, would appreciate it. ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 yes, gauges do fail. get the charging system load tested - most chain auto parts stores can do that for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampage Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Amp gauge---one of the things I dislike on any vehicle. They only tell you part of the story. You would be better off putting in a volt meter. If it reads 12 or less the alternator is not charging or not keeping up with the load. If it reads 13.8--14--14.4 the alternator is charging. I looked at the wiring diagram for a 1989 Loyal and it is so blurry I could not find the Amp gauge on it. You may want to try what I did on an Ambulance quite a few years ago. The driver said he was backing up to park it and it just up and quit. Hardly any thing electrical worked on it. I soon found the Amp gauge had burned open inside the gauge. Voltage on one pin, but not on the other pin. It has two main posts on the backside. I moved all the wires on to the same post and it started and every thing worked. I watched the voltage with my meter and it never went higher than 14.1 volts. Later I installed a Volt meter under the dash. You know, it is not good to have an Ambulance go out of service because of a lousy amp gauge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FerGloyale Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Subaru's do not have an Ammeter or "amp gauge" They have a voltage gauge. If it is dropping to zero it's probably faulty. But if the "charge" light is coming on that may be a sign the Alternator is failing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Please post in the correct forum. Yes your Subaru is a ‘90 model, but it’s an L series that came from factory with the EA82 engine. Not the EJ series engine that this forum is about. Cheers Bennie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampage Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 10 hours ago, FerGloyale said: They have a voltage gauge. That's why I could not find it on the wiring diagram. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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